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CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — Two American servicemembers were in Okinawa police custody Tuesday on separate alcohol-related charges.

According to Okinawa police, Airman 1st Class Malik Kareem Burchett, 26, was apprehended after allegedly exposing himself to a 28-year-old woman Friday night in Okinawa City. A charge of public indecency was forwarded Monday to the Naha Public Prosecutors Office.

Burchett, who had been drinking, claimed he was urinating when the woman walked by, a police spokesman said Tuesday. The woman told police the man had dropped his pants to his thighs as she approached.

In a separate incident, a 19-year-old Marine private first class was taken into custody on suspicion of breaking a window at Chubu Hospital in Okinawa City on Sunday night.

A police spokesman said the Marine, whose name was not released because he is considered a minor under Japanese law, was observed breaking a window with his fist by a hospital employee about 10:20 p.m. The Marine allegedly fled, but was later located and asked to come to the Okinawa City police station for questioning.

A police spokesman said the Marine had been drinking and claimed the incident was accidental. A charge of vandalism was expected to be forwarded to the prosecutor’s office.

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Hana Kusumoto is a reporter/translator who has been covering local authorities in Japan since 2002. She was born in Nagoya, Japan, and lived in Australia and Illinois growing up. She holds a journalism degree from Boston University and previously worked for the Christian Science Monitor’s Tokyo bureau.

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